What editors/IDEs are available for easing the process of writing TeX/LaTeX documents?

Please state some useful features like code completion, spell checking, building final DVI or PDF files, etc.

This question is undergoing a systematic refurbishment, see Let’s polish the Editors/IDEs question on Meta. If you’d like to see another editor feature covered here or to take care of an editor that’s not covered yet, share your ideas in that meta question.

Adding structure view, native knitr/sweave support, and auto correct would be great for these comparisons.
– kennyBNov 7 '14 at 0:13

@kennyB Not sure what you mean by 'structure view' (outliner, perhaps?). Knitr/sweave looks to me to be rather specialist plus I'm not quite clear on what would be required. Perhaps this is one to raise on meta, probably as a new thread linked to our older 'tidy up the IDE question' one.
– Joseph Wright♦Nov 25 '14 at 8:30

2

Outliner is probably what I mean, yes. This is a frame that contains sections, subsections, tables, figures for easy navigation in large documents.
– kennyBFeb 11 '15 at 23:02

Update about project activities as of May 2019

The most important aspect of latex editor is overall ease of use. Most editors are same if you know latex basics. The main difference is how good is autocompletion, and whether compilation is automated. If there is a way to sync doc to say google drive, it could be advantage, but can be achieved by using offline google drive. Emacs and vim is for programmers and difficult to learn for others
– VaibhavDec 28 '16 at 9:45

Another great editor is Geany. It comes with support for Windows and Linux. Furthermore the software has a plugin for LaTeX. It is maintained by one of the main developers. The plugin has a wizard for new LaTeX documents, autocompletion, you can easily insert environments and it is well documented.

This editor has a few features that can make it attractive: instant grammar checker, word look-up with more than 40 dictionaries and built-in graphics program based on PStricks. It also supports AsciiDOC syntax to write documents.
Other features include:

Scribo

Available for: Mac
Open Source

If you are looking for a beautifully designed LaTeX editor for Mac, you should try Scribo.
Although it's still in beta, it has a beautiful interface with a live outline of your document and a split-view. I am really anxious to see what it will become.

Also, I personally use TextMate and the LaTeX bundle for typesetting small files.

Platforms: Microsoft Windows® NT 4.0, or Windows® 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows® 7 or later or Apple Macintosh® running an emulator program such as Virtual PC™, Parallels, or the free Virtual Box running a version of Windows® listed above

License: commercial, US$810.00

Spell Checking: can/must be purchased separately

It has MuPAD as built-in computer algebra system, is described here and a trial version can be downloaded from here.

@JosephWright, done, as RISC OS is still around, though niche it may be of interest, and there must be some demand as it's still being developed, and on sale. I found it better than anything else around when it was released 23+ years back, and is still better than many of the current offerings.
– arober11Oct 25 '15 at 8:32

Archimedes is a LaTeX and Markdown editor designed from the ground-up for Mac OS X. It does not require an external TeX installation and includes innovative features like Magic Type, which allows users to insert mathematical symbols simply by drawing them on their MacBook's trackpad or Magic Trackpad.

Markdown Editing

At its core, Archimedes is a fully-featured plain text and Markdown editor. It includes a fast syntax highlighter and provides convenient keyboard shortcuts for common actions, such as inserting images and links. With complete support for Markdown, Archimedes makes formatting and structuring documents elegant and easy.

Math Mode + Autocomplete

In Math Mode, Archimedes lets you write mathematics in a subset of LaTeX. Just enter $$ to get started. Over 700 intuitive commands, such as \sqrt{a^2 + b^2}, help you produce stunning mathematical output. Archimedes even autocompletes commands and intelligently matches closing braces, brackets, and parenthesis as you type.

Magic Type

Just getting started with LaTeX? Don't know the code for the asymptotically equal symbol? Use your MacBook's trackpad or Magic Trackpad to draw it! Archimedes will recognize the symbol and insert the corresponding code for you.

Live Preview

As you work, a beautifully-typeset live preview of your document is always visible. You can even switch between horizontal or vertical orientation and select a custom theme.

Math Library

Browse the math library to see all available LaTeX commands and their previews in one place.

Macros

Archimedes lets you define macros -- or custom commands -- for the expressions you work with the most. Macros show up in autocompletion results right alongside built-in completions.

Navigator

Working on a long document? Use the Navigator to pull up a table of contents and quickly jump between sections.

Sharing

Share your work with the rest of the world via email, iMessage or AirDrop. Or export a PDF or HTML document to disk.

Hello! Do you think you could try to make this answer comply with the template defined in the following link? It would be helpful for people trying to find what suits them the best. meta.tex.stackexchange.com/a/3254/11002
– yo'Nov 24 '14 at 22:40

3

In addition to what @tohecz says, I wonder about the 'doesn't require a TeX system' part. Is this really a (La)TeX editor, or is it some form of Markdown-like parsing which recognises just a subset of LaTeX-like math mode commands (similar to MathJax)? The screenshot given doesn't really look like TeX input, for example.
– Joseph Wright♦Nov 25 '14 at 8:27

@JosephWright I haven't realized that at the first sight, but it really looks like wiki language.
– yo'Nov 25 '14 at 9:12

This IDE goes much beyond editing LaTeX files. It is an environment for scientific computation, data analysis and data visualization. You can plot functions, perform a data-analysis with histograms and arrays, do data mining, statistical calculations. Symbolic mathematical calculations are also supported. A lot of tools for matrix calculations. Data can be shown in 2D and 3D. SCaVis can generate vector-graphics images that can be inserted to the LaTeX documents. The program is written in Java.

The DVI Viewer Is The New Editor

In a traditional LaTeX workflow, you would edit the LaTeX source in a text editor, compile the document every now and then, and check the effects of your changes in the DVI viewer.

In Compositor, the DVI viewer is the document editor — you type directly in the rendered document, and every keystroke is immediately reflected. The source editing and compilation steps are completely eliminated from the workflow.

This not just gives you immediate visual feedback, it should also save you quite some time previously spent on compilation runs.

Source Editing When You Need It

There will be situations where you want direct access to the underlying LaTeX source.

Pressing Ctrl+S will open an inline source editor showing the LaTeX source behind the document region you're currently working on (often this will be the current paragraph).

This should allow for a smooth migration experience to this new paradigm, even with commands or environments for which there is no dedicated graphical inspector (yet).

Automatic Package Installation

If your document uses LaTeX packages not bundled with the app, they are automatically downloaded from CTAN.

And if you are using packages not available on CTAN, you can still provide them to the app easily.

I use a secondary cmd window to invoke texify (MikTeX), though I presume jove could set up a macro to do it. In the image below, my editing window is upper left, the cmd window is lower left and the DVI (or PDF) window is on the right.

Welcome to TeX.SX! You can have a look at our starter guide to familiarize yourself further with our format. There is a template for the answer to this thread, could you please try to make this post based on the template? It'll be easier for people to get the necessary information.
– yo'Jan 29 '15 at 12:54

Auto-Latex Equations add-on for Google Docs

Version Control: Yes, auto-saves all past versions with revision history

For all math equations typeset in MathJax/LaTeX, the Auto-Latex Equations add-on for Google Docs is free and works at a high quality. By replacing all your equations with images of the high-quality equation, it's mobile-viewable and fully compatible with Google Docs image tools.

Equations in delimiters can be rendered in super high quality at whatever time you like by rendering all the equations in your document. If you mess up, you can always undo one (or all), edit it, then re-render.

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